Protecting the President: An Inside Account of the Troubled Secret Service in an Era of Evolving Threats

The United States Secret Service is one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in the world. Dan Bongino spent twelve years inside it and came away with a warning: the agency is not keeping pace with the threats it exists to counter. In Protecting the President, Bongino draws on his experience in the Presidential Protection Division to offer both an insider's account of what the Secret Service does and a frank assessment of where it is failing. The threat environment has changed dramatically. Fence jumpers and manifesto writers represent the low end of a spectrum that extends to terrorist organizations developing technologically advanced attack methodologies, sophisticated foreign intelligence services, and adversaries with the motivation and patience to plan attacks on a timeline that outstrips current protective capabilities. Bongino identifies six critical threat categories the Secret Service must prepare for, tactical assault by a terrorist team, severe medical emergencies, chemical and biological weapon attacks, explosive devices, aerial threats, and fire, and explains in practical terms what preparation for each actually requires. This is not a book about the glamour of close protection work. It is a sober account of what protecting the most powerful person in the world demands, written by someone who did it for over a decade and believes the agency he served can do better.